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The demographics of Estonia in the 21st century
are the result of historical trends over more than a thousand
years, just as for most European countries, but have been
disproportionately affected by events in the last half of the 20th
century. Impact from the rise and fall of the Soviet Union,
including the annexation and eventual
independence of Estonia, has
had a major effect on Estonia's ethnic makeup and educational
achievement.

Languages spoken in Estonia are largely reflective of the ethnic groups
composing the country, and thus have changed with historical trends
affecting the ethnic makeup of the country. Religion plays a small
part in the lives of most Estonians, largely as a result of the
Soviet occupation from 1944–1991.

Overall, the quality of life indices for Estonia are reflective
of a modern industrial state, with one major exception: The
population of Estonia is shrinking. While there are other European
countries like Estonia with a birthrate that is at less
than replacement levels, Estonia lacks the immigration found, for example, in Germany. As such, the
population is on a slow downward trend.

Historical
ties

Estonians have strong
ties to the Nordic countries and Germany stemming from the
strong cultural and religious influences gained over centuries
during Danish, German and Swedish rule and settlement. This
highly literate society places strong emphasis upon education,
which is free and compulsory until age 16. The first known book in
Estonian was printed in 1525.

In the 20th century, Estonia's ethnic makeup
was altered radically by policies implemented by the Soviet
government. Large numbers of ethnic Russians were incentivized to
move into the non-Russian republics, including Estonia. The
population was further altered by Stalin's mass deportations and executions.
And some people simply left as a result of World War II.

Population

Population decline in Estonia

Population of Estonia
(1970–2009). Data by Statistics Estonia (2009)
[1]

Population of Estonia
(1960–2008). Data by NationMaster (based on data by the World
Development Indicators database and the CIA World Factbook). The data by
NationMaster is based on the de facto definition of population, which
includes all residents, except for refugees not permanently settled
in the country. The latter are considered to be part of the
population of their country of origin.[2]

Natural population
increase of Estonia from 1945–2008. Data is taken from Statistics
Estonia.[3
]

Number of births

Number of deaths

Natural population
increase

According to data from Statistics Estonia, the population of
Estonia is shrinking. While there are other European countries like
Estonia with a birthrate that is at less than replacement levels,
Estonia lacks immigration to compensate for this population
decline. As such, the population is on a slow downward trend. The
population increased from 1,351,640 in January 1970 to 1,570,599 in
January 1990. In 1990 the population started decreasing to
1,340,415 in January 2009, which is even lower than the number of
people living in Estonia in 1970.
[1]NationMaster uses different numbers (based
on data provided by the World Development Indicators database and
the CIA World Factbook) and has data from
1960–2008; the decline can be seen from 1990 onwards as well.[2]
The two line graphs of the total population show largely the same
curve.

Births and
deaths

The downward population curve can largely be explained by the
death and birth rate. From 1990 onwards the number of deaths
outnumbered the number of births, although the line graph of the
natural population increase shows the rate of population decrease
is slowly diminishing. The crude birth rate of 2008 was 11.96
(16,028 births) and the crude death rate of 2008 was 12.44 (16,675
deaths), making the rate of natural increase −0.48 (−647).[3
] For more detailed historic data, see the table of birth and death rates
below.

Migration

Not only is the number of deaths larger than the number of
births; also, the number of emigrants is larger than the number of
immigrants.[6]

Ethnic
groups

Today, Estonia is a fairly ethnically heterogeneous country, but
this heterogeneity is not evenly distributed across the country. In
2008, thirteen of Estonia's fifteen counties were over 80% ethnic
Estonian. The counties with the highest percentage Estonians are Hiiu County (98.4%) and
Saare County
(98.3%). However, in Harju County (which includes the national
capital, Tallinn) and Ida-Viru
County, ethnic Estonians make up only 59.6% (55.0% in Tallinn)
and 19.7% of the population, respectively. In those two counties,
Russians account for 32.4%
(36.4% in Tallinn) and 71.2% of the population, respectively. In
the nation as a whole, Russians make up 25.6% of the total
population.[7]

After gaining indepence following World War I a population
census was held in 1922 and 1934. At that time Estonians were still
the predominant ethnic group, while all others constituted 12% of
the population of Estonia.

As a result of the aforementioned Soviet policies, between 1945
and 1989 the share of ethnic Estonians in the population resident
within currently defined boundaries of Estonia dropped from 92% to 61.5%.
[8] But in the decade following the
reconstitution of independence, large scale emigration by ethnic
Russians, as well as ethnic groups of other former Soviet
countries, and the removal of the Russian military bases in 1994
caused the proportion of ethnic Estonians in Estonia to increase
from 61.5% in 1989 to 68.7% in 2008. In the same period the
proportion of ethnic Russians decreased from 30.0% to 25.6%, the
proportion of ethnic Ukrainians decreased from 3.1% to 2.1%, and
the proportion of ethnic Belorussians decreased
from 1.8% to 1.2%.[7]
[8]

As of 2008, the largest ethnic groups in Estonia are Estonians
(68.7%), Russians (25.6%), Ukrainians (2.1%), Belorussians (1.2%),
and Finns (0.8%). These five
groups made up 98.4% of Estonia's population.[7] For a more detailed look on
every known ethnic group represented in Estonia per the 2000
census, see the Appendix below.

Languages

Estonian and Finnish are very closely related, belonging to the
same Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric language family.
Although closely related, the two languages are not really mutually
intelligible, although educated native speakers can read the other
language with a greater or lesser degree of understanding. Both
Estonian and Finnish are distantly related to the UgricHungarian
language.

Written with the Latin alphabet, Estonian is the language
of the Estonian people and the official language of the country.
One-third of the standard vocabulary is derived from adding
suffixes to root words. The oldest known examples of written
Estonian originate in 13th century chronicles. During the Soviet era, the Russian language was imposed in
parallel to, and often instead of, Estonian in official use.

Religion

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,[9]
16% of Estonian citizens responded that "they believe there is a
god", whereas 54% answered that "they believe there is some sort of
spirit or life force" and 26% that "they do not believe there is
any sort of spirit, god, or life force". This, according to the
survey, would have made Estonians the most non-religious people in the then
25-member European
Union. Historically, however, Estonia used to be a stronghold
of Lutheranism due
to its strong links to the Nordic countries.

Less than a third of the population define themselves as
believers, of those the majority are Lutheran, whereas the Russian
minority is Eastern Orthodox. Ancient equinoctial traditions are
held in high regard. Today, about 32% of the population are members
of a church or religious group, thereof: